


Garden of Steel

by yannasunflower



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Angst, Crime Scenes, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Suspense, Thriller, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-13 17:39:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4531035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yannasunflower/pseuds/yannasunflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levy is an up-and-coming editor and hopeful young writer and Gajeel is a weary, disillusioned detective. When someone kills in the name of Levy’s personal writing, they become an unlikely duo to solve the case and catch the killer. Ghosts come back to haunt and for once, their whispers may contain answers….</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> please let me know how it is :)

Levy McGarden was having a pretty normal day. She woke up at seven, downed two cups of coffee, wrote another chapter to her mess of a novel, and updated her blog. After eyeing the work on her desk that she had skillfully avoided for a good week, she sighed and got started on the first manuscript, the one her boss was clamoring to have ASAP because it was supposedly “groundbreaking”. She loved the woman, but Mira wouldn’t know a potentially successful new author if they bit her in the ass. That was why she had hired Levy, after all.

A few hours later, Levy was distracted by her growling stomach. Deciding now was as good a time as any to take a break, she stood and stretched. She padded to her small kitchen with bare feet. The bluenette set water to boil for tea and began the laborious process of boiling eggs for egg salad sandwiches.

As she waited, she switched on the TV, flipping around until she settled on the local news station. She eyed the story of a fatal hit-and-run disinterestedly.

“Boring,” she muttered. It was a pretty simple case, and she wouldn’t be surprised if they had the killer behind bars by that evening.

The story switched to breaking news, and Levy sat up a little straighter at the hint of urgency in the reporters’ tones. There had been a murder, only a few blocks from her own apartment building.

They weren’t releasing many details to the public but the killer had left a note, which they had been given permission by the police to share in case the public knew anything.

_“Her breath was heavy and hot as she waited, always waiting for this man in the black, knife bright, eyes cold.”_

Levy’s heart stopped and she choked on air. Her kettle began to wail but all she could do was grip the remote like a lifeline.

She recognized those lines, better than anyone else in the world. And that was because of one simple reason.

She’d written them.

* * *

Gajeel Redfox was having a pretty shitty day.

First, he’d woken up late and had scrambled to get dressed, brush his teeth, and eat at the same time. Then, he’d spilled his coffee all over some rather important paperwork on his desk which resulted in being the laughing stock of the precinct for the rest of the week. And lastly, he’d been called to a murder, a gruesome one at that.

Gajeel had been a detective for a good four years now. He’d seen a lot of things, ranging from multiple stab wounds to acid-scarred bodies. But he didn’t ever think he’d seen a body that had been dressed up, posed, and killed so...artistically.

She was a young woman, brown hair and big eyes that now stared at nothing. Her throat had been sliced neatly and washed of the blood. She was dressed in a daring red dress. Her hands were clasped above her torso. Her make-up was spotless (from what Gajeel could see with his admittedly untrained eye).

But what really caught his attention were the words written on a plain sheet of notebook paper beside her.

“Her breath was heavy and hot as she waited, always waiting for this man in the black, knife bright, eyes cold.”

The young detective wasn’t much a reader, so he was stumped. He turned to his partner, who observed the scene with narrowed eyes and a furrowed brow.

He didn’t need to ask out loud.

“Juvia has never read that,” the woman murmured, moving closer with practiced ease to eye the lettering. “It’s not from anything Juvia knows.”

Gajeel blew air out of his nose, hard. This was looking to be a pretty shitty day.

“When you’re finished dusting for fingerprints and taking photos, get that paper back to the lab ASAP and have the analyst look it over,” he ordered a nearby intern. The young man took one look at Gajeel, gulped, and stammered out an affirmative.

Gajeel crouched down beside a young white haired girl who was taking copious notes on the corpse.

“What do you have for me, Lisanna?” he asked.

Lisanna Strauss looked too young and fresh for her job. But she was brilliant, well-respected in her field of expertise. She didn’t flinch from bodies, bloody or not, and was concise with her reports. She made the detectives’ jobs a little easier.

“Judging from lividity, I’d say she’s been dead at least ten hours. Estimated time of death would be one A.M. then. Her name is Carly Stayne. Twenty-three, college student studying pre-med at the university. Her roommates were out for drinks and stayed at a friend’s house. They found her like this about an hour ago. No signs of forced entry and it looks like she was home on a day off working on a paper.”

Gajeel glanced up at Juvia, who nodded and went off to speak to the shell-shocked students. Their wide eyes and shifting glances, unsure of what to look at, pegged them as civs. Julia approached slowly, raising her hands in a pacifying gesture and smiling. She was much better at being sympathetic than Gajeel, which they had learned after a few angry shouting matches and threats to demote him. Knowing Juvia would also take care of next-of-kin, Gajeel rose, taking one last look at the body before striding out.

By the time he got back to his desk, he knew the pictures and necessary statements would be there for him. Now was just a matter of tediously combing through the woman’s life until he found that one clue that brought everything together.

Things got way more complicated when he arrived back, however, and saw that the piece of writing had been revealed to the public. Sighing a half-hearted curse, he made a mental note to warn his co-workers to mind the tip lines.

Approaching his desk, he was waylaid by his Captain, face unusually pale.

“Redfox, there’s someone you need to talk to.”

Erza Scarlet was somewhat of a prodigy. Second woman to graduate top of her class in the academy, and first woman to be promoted to detective in the span of six months. She was tenacious, passionate, and merciless. Gajeel held nothing but wary respect for her.

He entered her office and took a seat tiredly, making a mental checklist of everything he had to get done that day.

“Redfox, meet Ms. McGarden. Levy, this is Detective Redfox, who is overseeing the case. Tell him what you told me.”

Gajeel studied the woman opposite him, who shifted in her chair and pulled at her hair. She was a tiny little thing dressed in a rumpled t-shirt and jacket. He would almost have pegged her as a teenager if it weren’t for the set of her face. Her lips and jaw showed lines of weariness not found in teenagers. When she looked at him, her big brown eyes were steady and unflinching. A civilian he could work with, for once.

“The words that the killer wrote, the ones released to the public...I know who wrote them.”

Gajeel raised a pierced eyebrow. While that was helpful, he didn’t see why Cap had called him in there to talk to her.

The girl took a deep breath before continuing. “I know who wrote them because I wrote them. But they’ve never been published. Anywhere. Not even my blog. That’s my personal writing that I keep with me at all times.”

Gajeel felt his blood chill. The first possibility in his head was that this woman was the killer. But looking at her petite frame and short messy blue hair, he immediately dismissed this thought. This woman seemed smart, too smart to hand the police a huge clue like that.

Cap glanced at him, lips pressed into a thin line. Gajeel ran a hand through his own messy black hair, groaning inwardly.

“Does anyone have access to your writing?” was his first question.

She shook her head, smiling rather sheepishly.

“I have a friend edit really rough parts but I’m positive she’s never seen those lines. I checked before I came here. I write all my rough drafts on lined paper and edit there too, which I keep in a locked drawer next to my bed. The key is with me at all times. When I transfer the writing to my computer, I use a program that requires two passwords, and a personal question that changes every three days.”

Gajeel could feel his eyes widening. What the hell…

“Isn’t that a bit much for some words?” he asked roughly.

Wrong question, as per usual. The tiny woman bristled.

“Restaurants keep recipes in sealed vaults. You keep case information in locked closets and basements under camera monitoring 24/7. This writing is important to me, not only because it’s mine, but because it’s intensely personal,” here she flushed. “I’m also kind of a computer geek, so I enjoy playing around with encryption software and all that.”

All of this was said in a clipped tone and cold voice, her eyes narrowed and fists clenched. Gajeel held up his hands, palms out, in a pacifying gesture.

“Point taken,” he conceded. He glanced at Cap, who was rubbing her temples vigorously

“Ms. McGarden is a personal friend, Gajeel, and I can vouch for her character, and her innocence. She was with me at the time of the murder. As it is, I expect you to take care of her. She will be assisting on the case.”

“WHAT?” Gajeel exploded. “Cap, with all due respect, civs really shouldn’t be involved in-”

“She already is,” Erza interrupted sternly. “Besides, I think you’ll find her more than familiar with police proceedings, and useful.”

With those cryptic words, she rose and exited, barking out orders for Natsu and Gray to break up their brawl.

When the door closed behind her, Ms. McGarden mumbled something under her breath, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“What did she mean by that?” Gajeel asked suspiciously. The bluenette gave him a sheepish smile, cheeks slightly flushed.

“My mom is kind of a legend in this precinct. She was the leading detective on the Doctor Death case a few years back.”

Gajeel nearly choked on his spit. “You’re _the_ Detective McGarden’s _daughter_?!”

She laughed and nodded.

The cogs were turning in Gajeel’s head. “I didn’t even know she had a kid. But that means, if you’re her daughter, then…” he trailed off uncomfortably.

“I’m also the daughter of the serial killer she caught. That’s right, my dad was the Doctor Death and my mom was the one who booked him,” she said quietly. She paused.

“And I’m the one who turned him in.”

Gajeel had been thrown a fair amount of curve balls in his life but this one took the cake. _Well, shit._

He’d just insulted the daughter of Detective McGarden and the biggest serial killer of their generation.

That was a hell of a lineage to grow up with.

“You can call me Levy,” she continued after a beat of shocked silence. “All this formal ‘Ms. McGarden’ crap is just uncomfortable.”

“Right,” Gajeel answered faintly, eyeing her in a whole new light. After a few more moments of silence, he stood.

“Well, it’s time I took your statement and introduced you to the team.”

Her smile was tired but bright.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, I didn't even realize I hadn't posted chapter 2. Woops! Good news is, chapter 3 is done so I will be updating again pretty quickly, probably tomorrow. Enjoy!

Levy glanced around the busy precinct, soaking in the ringing phones and chatter of officers yelling across the room to each other. Not much had changed since she’d been there last. The desks were the same, the computers were newer, and it seemed slightly louder than before. But the smells and walls were the same. So were the memories.

* * *

 

_"Levy, thank you so much for this!” her mother gushed. Levy grinned, waving a hand nonchalantly._

_“I knew you’d be working late,” she answered._

_Her mother was pretty woman. Blue hair the same shade as Levy’s was pulled back into a messy ponytail and there were shadows beneath her usually piercing gray eyes. But her smile was the same; wide and soft and bright._

_“I must’ve been a saint in a past life to get a daughter like you,” Leandra murmured, smoothing a roughened hand against her daughter’s clear skin. Levy giggled._

_“How’s it coming?” she asked, brown eyes big and curious as she peered over her mother’s shoulder at the photos scattered across the desk. In one smooth movement, her mother had shoved a couple beneath a folder, but not before Levy caught sight of bloodied walls and dismembered limbs._

_“It’s coming,” her mother groaned. She rarely shared case details with her family, much less her young daughter. While Levy was nearly an adult and mature for her age, there were certain things she just didn’t need to hear._

_Levy forced a smile, gave her mom one last hug before waving goodbye and traipsing home. Her father was reading when she got back and she kissed him goodnight before climbing into bed._

* * *

 

Levy pulled herself from her memories with a jolt, shifting uncomfortably on her feet. The tall intimidating detective hadn’t offered her a chair when he went off to get coffee so she was forced to stand awkwardly by his desk.

She watched with some bemusement as Erza chided a pink haired man and his partner, both sporting rather impressive scowls on their faces as she did so. A brown-haired woman was rolling her eyes with amusement nearby.

“Wasn’t sure how much sugar ya took, so I just put in two spoonfuls,” a rough voice brought her back to reality. She turned to face the man - Gajeel was his name, that’s right - and accepted the coffee gratefully. Gajeel pulled up a chair and she took a seat.

A phone began ringing just as someone shouted, “Where’s my autopsy report, damnit!”

Levy flinched, clutching her coffee like a lifeline. Gajeel blinked at her before glancing around. Realization dawned slowly on his pierced face.

“You ok, Shrimp?” he asked gruffly.

Levy blinked, unsure if the nickname or question startled her more. Gajeel was busying himself getting blank sheets of paper and a pen out, recording the date and time.

He looked at her, strange garnet eyes oddly gentle. “I’m guessing you haven’t been here in a while,” he elaborated. “Your mom kinda disappeared after that case and rumor has it she died and had a pretty private funeral so-”

“No,” Levy interrupted. Gajeel blinked at her and she swallowed. “I mean, no, she’s not dead. My mom is alive and fine. You’re right, I just haven’t been here in a while. Lots of memories.” She smiled uneasily.

Luckily, Gajeel left it at that and began the questioning.

An hour later they were done and were awkwardly exchanging phone numbers when a woman with long blue hair approached.

“Gajeel, I have all the statements ready to be typed up. Also, the report came back on the paper.” The unfamiliar cop handed over a sheet of paper. Gajeel scanned it, frowning as he did so.

“Bastard,” she heard him mutter and she reached for the paper as well.

“What is it?” she asked. He handed it over willingly enough and she read it quickly, eyes widening as she did.

“Oh,” she murmured.

The murderer had made his own victim write the words.

Levy refused to cry here among these strangers. She refused to cry because some maniac was taking her work and twisting it in such a despicable way. And she absolutely refused to waver.

“That piece of,” she nearly snarled, startling the big bad detective beside her, who was watching her carefully. “When I find him, I’m going to rip him apart and-”

“Who is this?” Juvia asked curiously, blue eyes wide.

“Name’s Levy. She’s the one who wrote that line but she’s got zero idea who our killer is. Has an alibi that’s backed up by Cap too. Got manhandled into working with us.”

Juvia offered Levy a warm smile, who returned it nervously.

“I am Juvia,” she introduced herself. “Welcome.”

* * *

“WHAT?!” her best friend’s voice screeched later that night.

“It’s a nightmare,” Levy groaned, burying her head beneath her pillows. She could hear Lucy spluttering over the phone, obviously trying to gather her thoughts.

“How is that even possible, Levy?” Lucy finally asked.

“It’s not, that’s the thing!” Levy whined, sitting up. “I take every single possible precaution. I have no idea how this guy got my work or what the hell it has to do with me.”

There was silence. Levy appreciated her friend, more than ever right then. She’d met Lucy in her first year of college. The young woman had been new to the city and an aspiring author. She was now widely known as the writer of the immensely popular book series Fairy Tail, with Levy as her faithful editor. They were the dream team of their publisher’s company and Levy couldn’t complain with the check she was cut for every book Lucy published. And now, she was depending on her friend’s logic to help herself out of this situation.

“So, what did this detective say?”

“Nothing much. He’s coming over tomorrow to go over my life story, so that should be fun,” Levy muttered, eyeing her pile of work forlornly. She’d have to call Mira and let her know she might be a little late on deadlines this time. And Levy McGarden was never late.

“Is he cute?” Lucy asked, mischief in her voice.

Levy laughed, shaking her head. “You sound like Mira,” she teased and Lucy giggled with her.

“Well, I need to finish this chapter. Call me any time Levy if you need anything. I can bring some cheesecake tomorrow for a dessert? Have a girl’s night?”

“It would be much appreciated,” Levy answered happily. After bidding her friend goodnight, she brewed some coffee and attacked the stack of papers on her desk. It wasn’t until her alarm rang the next morning that she realized she stayed up all night working, something she normally did when stressed.

With a sigh, she lay her head on her desk.

_Just a little nap,_ she thought before drifting off to sleep.


End file.
